Northwestern launches Forever Shine Campaign for scholarships

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Northwestern launches Forever Shine Campaign for scholarships

University-wide effort seeks to raise $625 million to open doors for students and empower them to thrive

• Link to: Northwestern Now Story

Evanston, Ill. - Northwestern University is putting support for its students front and center with a new fundraising campaign.

Through the Forever Shine Campaign, announced today, the University aims to raise at least $625 million for scholarships and supplemental programs benefiting undergraduate, graduate and professional school students. It is the first Northwestern-wide fundraising campaign focused on student support.

As of April 30, the University has raised $251 million from 23,861 individual donors, including a transformative gift from campaign co-chairs Adam '93 and Tonia Karr ('25, '27 P) to fund student scholarships and experiences. A portion of the Karrs' gift has created an endowment for Northwestern's Beacon Scholars program to provide mentorships, career resources, summer internships and community programming to more first-generation and/or lower-income undergraduates.

"Scholarships have the power to change lives and are essential to the University's continued success," said Interim President and President Emeritus Henry S. Bienen '09 H ('19, '25, '28 GP). "Visionary gifts from Adam and Tonia Karr and our generous community of supporters will help us give students every opportunity to shine at Northwestern and after they graduate."

Learn more about the campaign from co-chairs Adam and Tonia Karr.

Making an impact

The Northwestern community's support of the campaign, which takes its name from a line in the University's "Alma Mater," will help attract the strongest applicants and meet the growing needs of admitted students from low- and middle-income families.

The amount of financial aid Northwestern provides annually to undergraduate students has increased every year on record. In the 2025-26 academic year, the University awarded more than $300 million in financial aid to over 4,000 undergraduate students through a combination of scholarships, grants, work-study opportunities and more. This figure represents a nearly 50% increase to Northwestern's financial aid since 2019. Recipients received an average of approximately $65,000 in scholarships and grants this year. They hail from all 50 U.S. states - plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico - and several countries.

Through the Forever Shine Campaign, Northwestern will raise sustainable funding for most undergraduate students whose families make under $150,000 per year to attend the University tuition-free, and most students whose families earn less than $70,000 per year to attend at no cost.

"Financial aid is one of the highest-returning investments Northwestern can make," said Adam Karr, vice chair of Northwestern's Board of Trustees and a first-generation college graduate who benefited from scholarships as a student at the University. "It changed the trajectory of my life, and Northwestern's commitment to it is the reason I'm leading this effort today."

Learn more about Adam's Northwestern Direction in his essay for Northwestern Magazine.

"The Forever Shine Campaign is empowering the Northwestern community to create these life-changing opportunities for students from both lower- and middle-income families," said Tonia Karr, who also benefited from a college scholarship. "Together we can make sure that the door is open to all students who are qualified and motivated - and that they are able to make the most of the Northwestern experience."

Helping students thrive

During her time at Northwestern, Cydney Hope Brown '26 has had opportunities to explore various passions and potential careers, from serving as founding president of the Black Poetry Society to interning at iHeartMedia in downtown Chicago.

A communication studies major and Black studies minor from Philadelphia, Brown has made it a priority to be actively engaged in the Northwestern community. While she credits scholarships with helping her pay for college, programs for first-generation and/or lower-income (FGLI) students have enabled her to thrive.

One such initiative is Northwestern's Beacon Scholars program, which offers one-on-one mentorship from dedicated staff as well as community-building events that help FGLI students bond.

"Beacon Scholars has definitely helped me to get the resources I need on campus, connect with other students and just feel a sense of belonging," said Brown, who is also a Carlyon Scholar.

With support from these programs, Brown has excelled, both in her studies and outside the classroom. In 2025, she received the Communication Studies Departmental Excellence Award for Undergraduate Students, and she is a member of Lambda Pi Eta, an honor society that recognizes outstanding academic achievements in the field of communications. During her sophomore year, Brown interned with iHeartMedia, where she worked with radio personalities, prepared for on-air interviews and researched local issues. She has already secured a job after graduation as a communications analyst for Wells Fargo in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Beacon Scholars enrolls an annual cohort of 30 to 40 undergraduates who demonstrate both leadership potential and a need for academic support. Northwestern's Forever Shine Campaign will raise funds to fully endow the program and expand it to serve a larger group of students. The Karrs' transformative gift will be the cornerstone of that expansion, ensuring more students like Brown have access to both the academic foundation and the community to help them thrive.

"Beacon Scholars not only helps students excel academically but also inspires them to lead, innovate and make a meaningful impact on their communities and the world," said Susan Davis, vice president for student affairs. "Supporting this transformative program will help shape a brighter future - one where students rise to their full potential as leaders and changemakers."

Cultivating leaders at Northwestern and beyond

An important component of the Forever Shine Campaign, student support funds empower students like Alex Chavez '26, a Samuel W. Ho Scholar and J.G. Nolan Scholar, to pursue experiences that prepare them for success well beyond graduation.

The summer after his first year at Northwestern, Chavez, an environmental sciences major, was awarded a Posner Research Fellowship to partner with a Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences faculty member on an urban ecology project. The work involved encouraging community members in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood to create native-garden habitats that would attract monarch butterflies. "I could talk with residents on a personal level about the importance of this, and I really loved it," said Chavez, who saw how scientific research could have a real-world impact.

With funding from Northwestern's Summer Internship Grant Program and other sources, Chavez has gained valuable experience as a researcher with the Chicago Botanic Garden. For one project, he helped catalog urban bee populations across the Chicago area. Now he is studying the environmental conditions that help native plants thrive on Dolomite prairies in northern Illinois, an especially challenging site for restoration.

Looking ahead, Chavez hopes to take a gap year to do ecological or environmental work before pursuing graduate studies. He would also like to work abroad. "As scientific and environmental careers become more demanding and competitive, experience is becoming more important," he said. "Having funding gives you the opportunity to take your time and really explore and gain those experiences that are critical for students' growth and pre-career development."

Attracting top graduate and professional school students

Financial aid also helps bring the most talented students to Northwestern's graduate and professional schools and empowers them to pursue advanced degrees in fields they are passionate about.

"Expanding scholarship support is a core priority for the Law School because it allows us to welcome exceptional students who might not otherwise be able to attend," said Zachary Clopton, dean of Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. "These students go on to become future leaders who pursue critically important work and make Northwestern proud."

Robust scholarship and fellowship packages enable the University to attract the strongest applicants, who are also heavily recruited by peer institutions.

In the 2025-26 academic year, Northwestern is disbursing approximately $600 million in financial aid to more than 10,000 graduate and professional school students. Students earning a Ph.D. or M.F.A. through The Graduate School receive merit-based funding packages that include a full tuition scholarship, an annual stipend of at least $46,356 and full subsidies of the annual health insurance premium and quarterly health services fee.

"Graduate students are integral to Northwestern's teaching and research excellence, and funding is essential to competing for the top candidates," said Adrian Randolph, dean of Weinberg College.

Supporting the vision

The Northwestern community has already shown enthusiastic support for the Forever Shine Campaign, led by campaign committee members:

• Trustee Adam Karr '93 and Tonia Gladney Karr ('25, '27 P), co-chairs
• Trustee Du Chai '94, '01 MBA and Sarah Chai '96, '03 MBA ('27, '29 P)
• Trustee Valerie Friedman '85 and Mark Friedman ('16, '18, '24 P)
• Trustee Purnima Puri '93 and Richard Barrera
• Keech Combe Shetty '99, '06 MBA and Akshay Shetty '06 MBA

More than 60 individuals committed $1 million or more in student support in the Forever Shine Campaign's quiet phase, making them Founding Donors of the campaign.

> Learn more about the Forever Shine Campaign.